


Physical Affection

by celli



Category: Smallville
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2003-03-30
Updated: 2003-03-30
Packaged: 2017-10-07 04:44:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/61527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celli/pseuds/celli
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Honestly.  In the old days, Lex would have been threatening to buy the paper and fire her.  Clark would have said no, of course, but Lex would have offered.  It was the thought that counted.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Physical Affection

Clark stopped in the hall to adjust his tie for the umpteenth time.

He was not nervous.

He wasn't.

Just because Cat Grant had devoted her entire *Inquisitor* column this week to the state of the Luthor/Kent relationship, and Lex hadn't *cared,* was no reason to be nervous.

Honestly. In the old days, Lex would have been threatening to buy the paper and fire her. Clark would have said no, of course, but Lex would have offered. It was the thought that counted.

Clark glared at a remarkably ugly statue right next to the door. Instead, Lex had skimmed the page, smirked, and said, "Lack of physical affection? Well, I'm not going to pet you in public to prove that bitch wrong." Then he'd gone back to his omelet as though Cat hadn't just...just...

"Did I ask him to maul me with people looking on?" Clark demanded of the statue. "No. I like that he's low-key. I'm not a high-school girl. I don't need to hold hands with my boyfriend so everyone knows he's mine." He yanked on his tie again, wincing when he heard fabric give, and pulled his spare out from the inside pocket of his tuxedo. He needed a new nervous habit.

New tie in place, deep breath in lungs, he hesitated just inside the door of the ballroom. And he was not being paranoid; at least half the conversations in the room stopped when people caught sight of him. He raised his chin and smiled back at all of them, going for "coldly amused" and not "freaked as hell."

It wasn't a relief when Lex spotted him and worked his way through the crowd in his direction. He just knew that everyone was staring at them, analyzing the exact distance between them and its possible meanings. He struggled to keep smiling.

"Your tie is crooked," Lex said when he came in earshot. "Did you rip it again?"

Bite me, Clark thought. He just kept smiling.

Lex reached up to adjust it, which brought a real smile to Clark's face. "I can't take you anywhere."

"I'm such a trial to you."

"But you're worth it." Lex yanked on the tie hard enough to bring Clark's head down. It wasn't a prolonged kiss, but it lasted long enough. When they broke apart, both of them were grinning like morons.

"Come on," Lex said. "I have some people I want you to meet."

"Lead the way." Clark followed him through the crowd, still not touching, beaming impartially at everyone they passed. "I live for stuff like this."


End file.
